We stayed a couple of days in Hakone. It’s a great little area with lots of onsen (traditional Japanese baths) which we did not partake in – the kids would not have been up for that 😬

Instead, they did a glass bead making session. (The adults were considering doing it too but it turned out to be more expensive than we’d thought so just let the kids do it.)

Once they’d made the main bead they could choose what to make (both kids went for bracelets but it could have been a necklace or something else) and the other decorations – which took a while as you may imagine with so many choices. They really enjoyed it and created some great pieces!

We also ducked into the Hakone Open Air Museum which was not really a museum but a massive art gallery, including a lot of outdoor and interactive pieces. We had great weather for it and we could have easily spent another hour strolling the grounds – there was a lot to see and interact with. We didn’t even make it into the Picasso pavilion!

Highly recommended for anyone visiting Hakone (which you can do on a day trip from Tokyo).